During the winter of 2002/2003, my friend, Ben, and I made a trip into
the Loch Vale area with thoughts of climbing the Northwest Face Route of Thatchtop.
We knew the powder snow conditions were more than we could handle for a winter ascent,
but it was good just to get out anyway.

The first cool scenic shot looks into the Loch Vale area while still a mile or more away. I believe that’s
Taylor Peak (13,153 feet), barely visible, in the background to the left.

(The original photo, of poor quality, has been replaced by one taken Feb. 17th, 2013, from roughly the same location)

While I've been up to Sky Pond before, it's always been a pre-dawn
hike in, so the view from The Loch toward Sky Pond was something new for me, and
with all the fresh snow, it was a beautiful site.

Finally at Thatchtop, all we had time for was a couple of pictures
before heading back to the trailhead. This shot shows Deep Freeze (WI 5+ , 300 feet),
and the Northwest Face Route (WI 4-5 , 1,000 feet).

Ben captured this interesting shot while I broke trail on the final approach to Thatchtop.

On our way back down through Loch Vale Gorge, we stopped to check out some
ice along the way. We were impressed with this solo ascent by Dakota Soifer, a student at
CU in Boulder, Colorado.

Jumping ahead now, to August of 2006, on a hike into the Sky Pond Cirque,
I took this shot of the Petit Grepon - probably the most saught after technical climb in
the park. Its great high altitude exposure and unbelievably small summit at roughly 12,000
feet elevation, make this climb a true classic. Even with the fairly strenuous approach,
you can expect to be sharing this spire with multiple parties. Afternoon thunderstorms are
a common occurrence at high altitude, so try not to get caught near the summit with a highly
conductive rack, performing a lightning rod immitation.

On the way back down from my photo shoot with the Petit, I decided to
catch the Andrews Creek Trail up to get a look at Andrews Glacier. Along the way, I
couldn't help noticing something vaguely familiar with this tower, north of the trail.
I took a shot and later identified the two towers, Zowie (left), and Wham (right),
along Otis Peak's south face (far left).